Stubborn, stubborn girl

My daughter wins the prize. This 16 month old little girl is so stubborn. As I type, we are in the middle of a face off. Emily is our 3rd child. So I know from experience, she is capable at this age, of communicating. We have signed with all 3 of our kids. Once I was sure that Emily knew how to sign "all done" and understands what it means, I require her to sign it to me before she can get out of her high chair. I believe this teaches her to communicate constructively rather than just scream, holler and yell to make her requests known. But she chooses to not communicate with me at the moment. She would rather sit in her high chair and scream than sign "all done" and get down. This is about the 4th time we've had a stand off like this. You'd think she'd learn by now! I ask her, "do you want to get down?". She shakes her head no. When I sign and say "all done", she turns her head away from me and sticks her thumb in her mouth. So I go about my business, fixing lunch, cleaning up the kitchen, posting on my blog. But when I leave the room is when she gets really upset! Eventually she will sign it. It's a battle of the wills. I will surely win.

Blogger's Block, Already?

Is it possible to have blogger's block when I've had my blog less than a month with only 8 posts? I guess I have stuff to post about but I'm insecure about whether people will find it interesting, funny, insightful or any number of adjectives I think my blog should be. Anyone else feel that way sometimes? Why do we worry so much about what other people think of us? I spent a ridiculous amount of time this morning, trying to figure out what to wear to Bible study. I tried on several pairs of pants with several tops, not really liking the way anything looked together. I'd love to be on the show "What Not to Wear" just to have the advice. I don't think my wardrobe is hideous, like most of the wardrobes of the people on that show, but I feel myself slowly slipping into the realm of "stay-at-home-mom attire". I don't want to go there. But sometimes I feel so clueless as to what is fashionable these days. When my friend Mere was here visiting and we were getting ready for our date night with our husbands, I asked her for help in dressing me. She has a better eye for fashion than I do. My problem is that I'm stuck in a "matchy-match" attitude of dressing myself. For instance, she pulled out a turquoise top with jeans and wanted me to wear my open toed, patten leather red shoes. Really? Turquoise and red? I had a hard time with that. I should have a better fashion sense because my mom was all about the outfit and accessories. I grew up watching her always be dressed to the nines. She had a closet full of fashionable clothing with 50 or more pairs of shoes and boxes of jewelry to match. I did inherit her "bling" but her shoes are a size smaller than mine, and her body type is way different than mine so I only took a few of her tops. But fashion and looking her best was very important to my mom. She cared a lot about her appearance what others thought of her. She passed that on to me, but not the ability to do anything about it! So this morning when I was getting ready for Bible study, I was thinking a lot about her. I make it a point, everyday, to wear something that belonged to her. But this morning, I was having a hard time. I needed her advice for my silly quandary. It's been 17 months since my mom went to be with Jesus. I miss her. I wish I could just pick up the phone and talk to her about nothing. That's the kind of relationship and friendship we had. We would just call each other for no reason other than we were thinking of each other and wanted to say "hey". There are still many days when I'm driving along and almost reach for my phone to call her. My heart goes out to a friend of a friend back in Vancouver, who's mom is at the end stages of cancer. She is about to lose her mom and my heart is sad for her. She is spending every moment she can with her mom. It is hard to lose your mom, no matter your age, but especially when it feels like it's before their time. But I know this was God's time. I don't understand it, but I trust that God does. And the loss of my mom has drawn me closer to Him in many ways.

Sorry for kind of a "downer" of a post. I just got to typing and this is where my thoughts went. So go hug your mom or if she isn't near by, call her and tell her you love her.

A Touch of Fall

It so doesn't feel like fall here, but I decided to dig out my piddly fall decor anyway. All I have is a wreath and some garland. What do you think?

Besides the fact that I don't care for my front door and wish it was in the budget for a new one (really, I should just be thankful that I have a front door). What's wrong with a faux oak door (it's metal) with a lovely oval window, you ask? Nothing, I suppose. It's just not what I would choose if I could choose. Anyway, back to fall! I'm finally getting into the spirit of it. But I'm not ready for baking season - it makes my house too hot!

So I'm not one of those creative moms that always does fun crafty things with her children. I only do it on rare occasion, like when Tripp was out of town last week for 4 days. I devoted Tuesday afternoon to fun craft time! No need to pat me on the back, I already did it to myself. First we made pumpkin ice cream pie. It was really simple. Here is the recipe. Next we got ready to make rock jack-o-lanterns. We went outside and gathered river rock from our back yard. We (mainly me) painted the rocks orange. While we waited for the several coats of paint to dry, we had pizza delivered and ate dinner. Then we enjoyed our pie. Once the orange rocks were dry we (mainly me), drew faces on them with sharpies. Then after the kids went to bed I hot glue gunned green rick rack to the top of each one as the stem. Here is the finished product, gracing our front walkway:

Ryan wanted to put them on our bench too, to scare the birds away so they don't poop on our bench. I told him that they weren't very scary and that the birds would probably just poop on the pumpkins.

Pretty cute, huh? So next on our journey to getting into the spirit of fall was a trip to the pumpkin patch. I was expecting (for those of you in Vancouver) an experience like "Bizi Farm"! Where you go ride out to the pumpkin field in a tractor and actually get to pick the pumpkin right from where it was growing on the ground. Then you go to the petting zoo and play on the hay pyramid. Not the case here in AZ. The pumpkins are already picked and neatly displayed under a tent area. No animals to pet. But there was a hay pyramid! And the pumpkins are freakin' expensive! I got 3 little ones (one for each kid) and one big one to carve at the pumpkin carving party we were going to. Here are some pictures from our trip:

Emily was slapping the pumpkin, she liked the sound it made! Also please notice - my little girl finally has enough hair for 2 cute little pig tails! I'll be taking all pictures of her from the side or from behind from now on. I love it!

We went with our friends who have kids the same age as ours. Here are the boys on top of the hay pyramid: And they had a hay maze for the kids to run around in too:Then there was this huge barrel thing that the boys had fun in:
Emily didn't like getting hay on her hands, it interfered with her thumb sucking. The last thing they did was ride this cow train thing that is pulled by a tractor. It was really cute - the cars went up and down. The boys had so much fun!

Ryan

Casey
Emily

I forgot to take my camera with me to the pumpkin carving party, but I wanted to show you the masterpiece. It was a joint effort by Tripp and I. I cleaned it out (the boys refused to touch the pumpkin guts). And since it was so big, we carved 3 sides of it with different designs:

Tripp did these first 2. This one says "Cat run over by a short bus" (this is the strange humor of my husband)
This is my side, it's hard to tell what it is. Looks much better at night with a candle in it!And last, here are 3 little pumpkins I got each one of the kids. I painted their names on them with fabric paint.

I've probably exceeded my picture upload limit! Better stop here!

Happy Fall!

Long weekend visit with friends - Part III

There is one more fun thing we did while Cory, Mere and Co. were visiting! I thought I'd share these fun pictures from our visit to see Tripp at the fire station. It's funny too, our kids have obviously been to the fire station dozens of times, but it never gets old to them. They still get excited when I tell them we're going to the station and when we're out and about and there is a fire truck or ambulance they get excited as if they've never seen one before! Anyway, here are some fun photos:

The kids are intrigued by what exciting equipment the fire truck holds.

Ella in the cab of the fire truck

Jackson tries on Tripp's helmet

Caden tried it on too!

Ella took a turn too!

All the kiddos!


Tripp got all suited up and had he kids hug him so that if they ever have to be rescued by a fire fighter, they won't be scared.

Mere and I posed with our girls

All the boys (minus Cole)

Jackson, Casey and Ryan = BUDS!

This concludes my 3 part series! Hope you enjoyed it :)

Tag, I'm it!

So my friend Eryn tagged me. I'm new to blogging so I wasn't sure what this meant. Had to ask some seasoned bloggers. According to the rules, I'm supposed to come up with 7 random or weird facts about myself. So here goes:
1. When I was 19, I got a tattoo of a frog. It is on my left side lower back, kind just above my rear. So Tripp teases me that I have a frog on my a#%.

2. My kids have A LOT of grandparents.

3. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: I have an irrational fear of vomit. Here's an example: last night at 11pm Casey came out of his room (I was watching "Samantha Who?" that I'd DVR'd earlier). He says, "my tummy doesn't feel well". Instantly, mine doesn't either! Thankfully, it didn't turn out to be anything serious. But those 5 little words are enough to keep me up all night, laying in waiting, listening for the retching! Ugh, I just loathe the vomit.

4. Only 1 of our 3 children were "planned".

5. Since my mom passed away in June of '07 and I inherited all of her lovely "bling" (and some of her clothes), everyday I purpose to wear something that belonged to her.

6. I should be completing any number or chores right now, yet here I sit (hence, the name of my blog!). As I look around me, the floors could use a good vacuuming, there's a pile of towels, albeit folded, on the table beside me that should be put away, and though I can't see the kitchen from where I sit, I still hear it calling me. I'm just good at tuning things out.

7. I'm excited to take the kids to the pumpkin patch today, but wish I could bundle them up. It is late October now, yet the weather here is still in the 90s. That is just not right!

There's my 7 things. Now I'm supposed to tag 7 more people, but I think all the bloggers I know have already been tagged! Here's a few, though: Dee , Beckie, Christy.

Long weekend visit with friends - Part II & Ryan's 1st Soccer Game!

So the where was I? We got up on Saturday morning had a quick breakfast and headed to Ryan's first soccer game! This was so cute. Team Dynamo consists of 5 and 6 year olds. They are so cute, they just clump around the ball and chase it around the field like a swarm of bees. Here are some pictures of him, he's #10. We really need to work on his aggressiveness during the game!

The team took turns playing goalie. Here's Ryan being goalie

Here's Ryan's cheering section!

This is me with Emily, Casey, Ella and Jackson.

Here is Aunt Wendy, Cory, Cole, Mere (holding Brenton), Nan (holding Emily), and Tripp.

The 3 in the back is Jacob & Luke (Ryan's cousins) with Casey. The 3 sitting on the blanket is Caden, Jackson and Ella.

Then we made a tunnel for the kids to run through after the game. It was so fun to watch him out there and he loved it!

After the game we got pizza for lunch and one of Mere's friends came up from Tucson to hang out with us. Us girls even got to sneak away and enjoy some Coldstone ice cream while the guys stayed home to watch football (and kids, hopefully!).

On Sunday morning, Mere and I got away again. We went to Starbuck's and just enjoyed the morning. It was great. Mere and I usually enjoy our coffee together. Even though we moved a year ago, we still have coffee together almost every morning. I can't start my day with out my "morning cup of Mere"! Mere is the friend that I call when I have nothing to talk about and she's the friend I call when I have everything to talk about. Does that make sense? Most of the time when I call her, it's for no particular reason. She said this about me but I must say it of her too because I fully agree: everyone needs a "Mere" in their life. I'm so blessed to have her friendship, she's an amazing friend. So we pulled ourselves out of Starbuck's and headed home but not before getting doughnuts to bring home! The rest of the day we just hung out and the kids played outside. The weather was beautiful. Here are some pictures of the kids playing outside:

As much fun as it was for us to be together (all 12 of us) and watch the kids play like no time has passed since they last saw each other (though it's been over a year), the very best part of their whole entire visit was when the 4 of us adults were able to have a grown up date night! Tripp's beyond wonderful parents came to our house and watched all 8 of our kids so Cory, Mere, Tripp and I could go out to dinner. It. Was. Fantastic. We went to this fun Mexican restaurant where there was a flamenco dancer! We had great food, great margaritas and an all around great time.